be the very thing which prevents his mission? If so, then sin, the lowest and most despicable object in the universe, gains the victory, and the Physician is defeated by the very cause which he came to remove. How will this accord with his ministry when on earth? Then, disease in every form fled before him, as the sun dispels the darkness of the morning. If our Physician fails, then wherein is he above the physicians among men? They are defeated by a lack of power or wisdom. And can this be said of the Physician whom Heaven has provided? Shall we say of him as was said in the case of the woman 'who had suffered many things of her physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but grew worse?' Indeed, then is our Physician 'of no value;' and there is no balm in Gilead, there is no Physician there! But we cannot pursue this subject to a great length, and we therefore present the words of an eloquent and lamented brother in the ministry, wherein he has touched this point in a most admirable manner. 'Will the need of a Saviour prevent our salvation? Were we not sinners, we could not be saved, and shall the possibility and the impossibility of salvation be the same thing? Or, in other words, shall our sinfulness prevent our release from sin? "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;" and why shall they not have a physician? You are careful to procure medical aid when your friends are in distress, and shall not God be as earnestly concerned for the health of the soul as you are for the health of the body? It may be urged, that the Saviour, the great Physician, has come, and that our moral disorders are unhealed

1

because we have turned a deaf ear to his voice, and hardened our hearts against his counsel. It is replied, were not our souls infected with sin, we should not treat Christ in this manner. And shall conduct, which grows out of the nature of the malady, prevent the cure, when the physician is neither deficient in skill nor faithfulness? Should an earthly physician refuse to prescribe for the sick, because, in the delirium of their pain, they load him with the heaviest imprecations, no one would think him faithful or kind, as the cause of his refusal would, in amount, be the sickness of the patient. And shall Christ abandon the very sinners he came to heal, because, through the intensity of their moral disorder, they 'pointedly reproach and bitterly execrate his kindest intentions? Should this be the case, how would he be a faithful Physician, or how would he show as much regard to the souls as he did to the bodies of men? for when he was on earth, no curse or flattery of a maniac diverted him from performing a cure with readiness and mercy."

In closing, our subject seems to require a word on the disposition of our Physician. What tenderness and kindness! Every word was love, and every look was affection. He had 'compassion on the ignorant, and on them that were out of the way.' He was experimentally acquainted with our frail nature, for he took part of the same.' He 'took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses.' He knew what was in man,' and therefore, he knew his trials, and could

* 'Reasons for believing in Universalism;' a sermon delivered in Hartford. 1825. By Rev. John Bisbee.

pity his weaknesses, and forgive his sins! Blessed Physician! I find, on looking at thee, new life, and returning health. I forget my weaknesses and my frailties. In looking at thee, I seem almost even now to be enjoying immortal health! God be praised. 'Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician there??

'Yes, there's a great Physician near;
Look up, my fainting soul, and live!
See, in his heavenly smiles appear

Such help as nature cannot give.'

He has appeared in the midst of this pestilential world, and standing beside us, he is saying, with a smile of love, I am the Physician that healeth thee. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because *** he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted.' *

And the great Physician will pursue his work till he heals 'all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.'

Finally, we shall reach that bright and beautiful world where we shall not need the skill of our Physician, but where we shall adore him forever; for there 'the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.'

"There sickness never comes;

There grief no more complains;
Health triumphs in immortal bloom,
And purest pleasure reigns.

*

No cloud those regions know,

Forever bright and fair;

For sin, the source of mortal wo,
Can never enter there.'

LXI. PRINCE OF PEACE.

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.'

Isa. ix. 6.

WHAT an amiable, what an illustrious title! How exceedingly appropriate when applied to him who 'came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' He is also called the Prince of the kings of the earth, Rev. i. 5; the Prince of life, Acts iii. 15.

Prince of Peace! How many rich associations cluster around this name! The mind luxuriates amid unnumbered beauties! The loveliest scenes spread out before the eyè in prophetic vision! We see nations, powerful in arts and arms, laying aside their implements of war; their jarring differences all settled; their drawn swords returned to the scabbard; and they go back to their hills and valleys, their vines and their fig-trees; and beside the cool fountain and the over-arching shade, and around the domestic hearth, no longer visited by sudden and cruel alarms, they celebrate the dominion of peace, and the triumph of justice.

I. The teachings of the Prince of Peace.

II. The nature of his kingdom.

I. The teachings of the Prince of Peace. Let us go directly to his first sermon: 'Blessed are the

poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.'* What a sermon! Like dew upon the tender plant; like broad rivers in a desert; like the bright morning star ushering in a day of righteousness and peace. The very wilderness budded; the desert rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. From that hour to the present, the blessed influences of this sermon have been felt by the wise and the good. It has been to the world 'like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth.'

II. The nature of his kingdom. The prophets. everywhere describe this kingdom in the most glowing strains, and throw around it the richest imagery. Sometimes they present it under the type of a city descending from heaven; sometimes under the type of a wilderness newly clothed with bud and blossom; sometimes as a great temple, capacious enough to contain all nations. Hear a few of the prophetic strains, as the prophets touch the golden harp of prophecy :

'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of

*Matt. v. 3, 5, 7, 9, 44.